Aristolochic acid-related renal cell carcinoma exhibits a distinct tumor immune microenvironment and may be more responsive to immune checkpoint blockade. Aristolochic acid-related renal cell carcinoma exhibits a distinct tumor immune microenvironment and may be more responsive to immune checkpoint blockade

We aimed to investigate the immune profile of AA-related RCC and explore its potential role as a predictive biomarker for ICB. Three distinct clusters were found through functional pathway analysis using the NanoString gene expression panel. AA-positive ccRCC comprised the majority of cluster 1 and 3, and the two patients with good response to ICB were grouped to Cluster 3. Cluster 3 exhibited higher tumor inflammation signature (TIS) and immune cell type scores. Overall design: Tissue samples from two patients with metastatic RCC (mRCC) who responded well to ICB and twenty-two additional tumor-normal tissue paired clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) were profiled for gene expressions using NanoString PanCancer IO360.

本研究旨在探讨AA相关肾细胞癌（AA-related RCC）的免疫特征，并探索其作为免疫检查点阻断（Immune Checkpoint Blockade, ICB）预测生物标志物的潜在价值。本研究采用NanoString基因表达检测面板开展功能通路分析，共得到三个独立聚类簇。AA阳性透明细胞肾细胞癌主要分布于聚类簇1与3中，其中2例对免疫检查点阻断应答良好的患者被归入聚类簇3。聚类簇3的肿瘤炎症特征（Tumor Inflammation Signature, TIS）及免疫细胞类型评分均更高。实验设计：本研究采用NanoString泛癌肿IO360检测面板，对2例对免疫检查点阻断应答良好的转移性肾细胞癌（metastatic RCC, mRCC）患者，以及额外22例肿瘤-正常组织配对的透明细胞肾细胞癌（clear cell renal cell carcinoma, ccRCC）患者的组织样本进行基因表达谱分析。